This blog began in 2007, focusing on anthrax vaccine, and later expanded to other public health and political issues. The blog links to media reports, medical literature, official documents and other materials.

4 comments:

William Ockham
said...

55 minutes with Meryl! Very cool. Reminds me of the tiger who said, "Oh, honey, look who came over for dinner."

I would tend to want a senior executive to do everything possible to promote the morale of the employees. For example, when I see a CIA Director defend the CIA analysts against alleged failures of intelligence, I tend to think “Good for him. That’s someone who is doing their job.” I feel the same when I see FBI Director Mueller defend the work of the DOJ. But there is a tricky balance to strike. At the end of the day, justice and correctly “connecting the dots” is the paramount value to uphold.

What is the view of FBI Director Mueller and President Obama, a former constitutional law professor, on Blackwater, involving the same lead prosecutor as led Amerithrax throughout the decade?

The judge said of the prosecutor who also has been the lead Amerithrax prosecutor advancing the Ivins Theory:

“The explanations offered by the prosecutors and investigators in an attempt to justify their actions and persuade the court that they did not use the defendants’ compelled testimony were all too often contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility,” wrote Urbina, voicing astonishment that such a “seasoned and accomplished” lawyer could make so many blunders.”

The federal district court judge also accused prosecutors of not giving grand jurors evidence that was helpful to the defendants.

In Amerithrax, why did Kenneth Kohl not disclose that the toner, paper and “trash marks” (that identify a copier) were not, in fact, a match with the copier allegedly used by Bruce Ivins?

Why did the DOJ Amerithrax Investigative Summary by Kenneth Kohl and Rachel Carlson Lieber not disclose this fact?

(Relatedly, why isn’t the general science relating to identification of a copier/paper/toner part of the review of the science by the National Academy of Sciences?) Such science would help with any mailed pathogen or hoax.

There were some facts left out and maybe for good reason. The FBI, may have "closed the case" but have not closed the possibility that there may be someone else linked to the evidence. They must also balance disclosures with information that could affect the prosecution of the case, be it fair, or unfair.

I will only slight them in their contradictions, erroneous statements whether they be intentional, in a biased sort of investigation, in failing to investigate their own investigation, their method and madness in the way they harassed and abused the persons investigated....well this list is getting long isn't it ?But all in all, a good review of the emails, Bruce Ivins statements, personality and habits etc all point to the fact that he didn't do it. It is so blatantly obvious from the information gathered, though we can't criticize them for considering anyone who had access to such a pathogen as a suspect.

I took the time to listen to your interview on streaming audio. Nice job! Your points were on the mark and you didn't let the show hosts hijack your topic. Although, being an expatriate of NYC, it was enjoyable to hear my New Yawk dialect spoken.

After swimming with dolphins at Key Largo, they checked me out at the edge of the pool

Visiting a Bhutanese Dzong, the regional seat of both government and religion (and a fort for good measure)

Why am I blogging?

Because life is meant to be lived! The left side of this blog has photos of some peak experiences. And the right side contains information about which I am passionate.

Too many peoples' lives are characterized by lack of authenticity, and fear of acknowledging and expressing their true nature. Employees cannot say what they think at work, and in the corporate system we must squish ourselves into square holes when we are round pegs. We thus lose touch with our souls, becoming cogs in a soulless, profit-driven machine.

The culture of political correctness has meant, in medicine, that we ignore how the foundations of our science are being undermined by commercialism. Clinical data generated or presented by the manufacturers of drugs, vaccines and devices cannot be trusted: there are hundreds of studies proving this. But this fraudulent information continues to be the only data informing the approval of vaccines, drugs and devices.

Unless scrupulous ethical conduct is demanded of physicians and biological scientists, our lack of meaningful standards will carry the medical-pharmaceutical system down the path of increasing irrelevance.

Medicine and its tools need to be affordable. The current medical-industrial milieu, characterized by contempt for science, countless ways for insiders to achieve wealth due to failure of good governance, and regulatory agency-to-industry revolving doors, has ushered in stratospheric pricing... further kicking us down that path to irrelevance.

Why is our new health care plan a giveaway to health industries instead of to health consumers? Why won't it cover all Americans? Why was the "public option" never an option for the Obama administration? Why did the promised Trump health plan evaporate the moment he was elected?

So many of our leaders carry a heavy burden of mendacity and avarice. If they instead got in touch with their own souls (perhaps by exposure to the natural world), or made their decisions by maximizing the amount of good that results, our leaders might find real meaning and value in their lives.

Until that happens, the only way to straighten out the current mess is to demand accountability and impose penalties on unethical/dishonest leaders. Both political parties enjoy bounteous hors d'oeuvres from Pharma's table, making it unlikely the existing political "process" will provide relief--as we've seen in the demoralizing healthcare reform drama.

Until then, I'll continue to "call it as I see it" in this blog -- working and living the way life should be, in rural Maine, far from the centers of power.

Ellen Byrne has created several designs encapsulating aspects of the FBI's ridiculous case against Bruce Ivins. They can be purchased on T-shirts and coffee mugs. All proceeds will be donated to the the Frederick County chapter of the American Red Cross, a favored charity of Dr. Bruce Ivins.